Two aspiring judokas have qualified to represent Australia at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China.

By virtue of a reallocation of quota places, Bryan Jolly (50kg division) and Naomi de Brunie (70kg division) will compete at the second edition of the YOG next August.

De Bruine, who chose Judo over Boxing, sees the YOG as reaching a major goal she has set herself.

“Competing at the Youth Olympics Games would mean a lot to me personally because it is completing another chapter of the goals I have set myself,” she said. 

“And it shows that the hard work I put in can get rewarded by selections like these.”

Both Jolly and De Bruine competed at the World Championship Cadets in Miami earlier this year, which was a learning experience for both athletes.

“This competition demonstrated what the atmosphere is like,” de Brunie said.

“It taught me more about how they run the system at bigger events- like preparing younger athletes for what is ahead of them when going to bigger places and more important events such as the Youth Olympics.”

The tournament showed De Bruine how much she could achieve in Judo.

“The most important thing this competition taught me is that anything is possible if you just put your mind to it,” she said.

De Bruine used the tournament to find new ways to improve herself as a judoka.

“It showed me my strengths but also my weaknesses which is of course great for more improvement,” she said.

Sweat and hard work have been essential to De Bruine’s progress as an athlete.

“I have put in a lot of work to get where I am now and I will continue to do that until I have reached everything I want to in this sport.”

She sees the YOG as an important stepping stone in her Judo career.

“Competing at this level gets athletes to that next stage which I believe is needed to keep succeeding.”

Jolly’s father, Terry, says the YOG means “everything” to his son Bryan.

“This is the most important event,” Terry Jolly said. “In Bryan’s mind this is a bigger event than the world title, this is the biggest event that he could ever hope to have a go at because he’s trying to get into the big Olympics….this mean’s everything to him, this is so important to his career.”

The YOG begins on 16 August 2014 and Australia anticipates sending a team of approximately 90 athletes aged 15-18 years.

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Jacob Kuriype